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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Power & Pain
Verdict: Love's power games
Power & Pain is a set of 15 sketches in the theme of manipulation - mainly in love, lasting just over an hour. There's a cast of 10. Sketches are reviewed separately below. The whole benefits from the inspired direction of Michael J Darton.
Talk In The Park. Doreen joins a man on a park bench and expounds her deranged life story. Catherine Cayman delivers to perfection the unavoidable nutter dreaded by those singly occupying a double seat. Matt Jordan's her stoic audience. Credits (alpha order): Catherine Cayman - Doreen. Matt Jordan - Man. Writer - Alan Ayckbourn.
Joyriders Irish Sandra in blue-check shirt pours out her troubles in marriage to an unseen Arthur. It's a powerful soliloquy by Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete, whose expressive eyes own eloquence. And pessimistic: 'Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds die.' Credits (alpha order): Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete - Sandra. Writer - Christina Reid.
Round Two. Lawyer Alex manipulates servant Desmond, summoning him frequently and purposely by tinkling a bell. It's a power-play of gay sexuality, each mentally manipulating the other. Mark Eaton gives Alex ambiguity and enigma; Matt Jordan presents a flirty and entertaining Desmond. Credits (alpha order): Mark Eaton - Alex. Matt Jordan - Desmond. Writer - Jack Waller.
Emily Harriet Jeffery in turquoise gym suit, and Valerie Aubine in red debate love during energetic press-ups. 'I have never been in love', offers Valerie Aubine's character: but where is Harriet Jeffery's character off to after the gym? Credits (alpha order): Valerie Aubine. Harriet Jeffery. Writer - Stephen Metcalfe.
Talk In The Park. Weirdo Arthur joins a sexily short-skirted woman on a park bench. 'I'm never at a cross, I'm a very fulfilled person', he explains, revealing his cigarette-card-collecting. It's one of the highlights of the show, with Terry Biggadike as an Arthur of visual depravity, each word verging on understated insanity; and Sarah Palette reacting soundlessly with subtly minimal glances and purses of her lips. Glorious. Credits (alpha order): Terry Biggadike - Arthur. Sarah Palette - Woman. Writer - Alan Ayckbourn.
On A Clear Day. Pretty Celia Andrews, togged-up to the image of 5-star-unhygienic bag-woman in floppy hat, strolls onto the set of the last piece, still containing Terry Biggadike and Sarah Palette's characters, and sings On A Clear Day in a powerful and melodic voice. She collects money from them, and exits - a delightfully-nuanced performance. Credits (alpha order): Celia Andrews - Singer. Terry Biggadike - Man. Sarah Palette - Woman. Song Writer - Burton Lane. Piano - Hazel Millson.
Blythe Spirit. Elvira's ghost returns from the dead after 7 years to visit husband Charles, who's married Ruth. Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete delivers Elvira with breathtaking wit and style, evoking Eliva's sophistication and beauty with élan. Peter Malone exactly catches Charles's plodding good-heartedness, producing an endearing and wittily stoic characterisation. It's a delightfully-acted two-hander, with sharp lines expertly evoked. Credits (alpha order): Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete - Elvira. Peter Malone - Charles. Writer - Noel Coward.
Talk In The Park Disturbed Beryl joins a man on a park bench. She's received violence and has a bitter tale to unload. Harriet Jeffery evokes Beryl's incipient mania and troubled mind with delicate skill and conviction. Terry Biggadike's Man reacts with soundless subtlety. Credits (alpha order): Terry Biggadike - Man. Harriet Jeffery - Beryl. Writer - Alan Ayckbourn.
Losing My Mind. Sarah Palette sings Losing My Mind without accompaniment in a breathily quiet voice, redolent with powerful beauty and delicate evocation of the lyric. It's a visually sexy performance, with crimson lighting, and the cyan shadow of a window frame complementing the sombre mood. Credits: Sarah Palette. Writer - Stephen Sondheim from Follies.
Chips With Everything Mark Eaton delivers a wild-eyed, wild-voiced, and generally wild airman, escaped from military prison (jankers), hell-bent on hitching a lift to London. It's a powerful study of mania, delivered with a strongly emotional edge. Credits (alpha order): Mark Eaton - Airman. Writer - Arnold Wesker.
Talk In The Park. Harriet Jeffery's the sympathetic-looking woman on a park bench, joined by apparently-reasonable Charles. Peter Malone delivers a fine and convincing study of incipient madness, as he shows Charles gradually, and completely, losing it. Harriet Jeffery's quiet visual reactions provide the perfect complement.
Credits (alpha order): Harriet Jeffery. Peter Malone - Charles. Writer - Alan Ayckbourn.
Lovely. Catherine Cayman, gorgeous with tumbling blonde hair over elegant purple evening gown and rose stem, sings 'I'm lovely, winsome'. Celia Andrews, gorgeous with a satedly-ravaged look, also in purple, with wild tousled hair, and dead-looking daisy, repeats the song-lines, ruthlessly taking the piss. Superb vocals from both actors, and fine comedy. Credits (alpha order): Celia Andrews. Catherine Cayman. Writer - Stephen Sondheim. Piano - Hazel Millson.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses Decadent Marquise de Merteuil and ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont dissect the nature of passion. Valerie Aubine brings her expressive beauty to a breathtaking delivery of Merteuil, each sentence establishing the character's complexity. A text that can appear riddled with intellectual pretence is given grace by Valerie Aubine's subtle evocation - and delightfully sexy French accent. Mark Eaton's Valmont is silent in this extract, and it's a silence of inspirational reactions. Credits (alpha order): Valerie Aubine - Marquise de Merteuil. Mark Eaton - Vicomte de Valmont. Writer - Christopher Hampton.
Beyond Therapy is the tour-de-force highlight of the show, in its writing, delivery, and inspired comic acting of the delightfully-matched Terry Biggadike and Sarah Palette. Visually they're a fine pairing. Terry Biggadike's beautiful face can assume the look of recent contact with a tumble-drier, his body's thin to cadaverous; delightfully pretty Sarah Palette contrasts with generous curves and fabulous range of expressions, in mouth, eyes and body. Their working together - one making actions, the other reacting - is perfect comedy. There seems an intuitive understanding of each other's performance. It's a blind date in which the truth is spoken. Bruce (Terry Biggadike): 'You have lovely breasts'. Prudence (Sarah Palette): 'I don't think men should cry. Unless something falls on them'. Bruce: 'Do you swing both ways?' Prudence: 'I don't know. I always insist on the lights being off.' It's a divine pairing of two sublime talents made to act with each other. Credits (alpha order): Terry Biggadike - Bruce. Sarah Palette - Prudence. Writer - Christopher Durang.
Talk In The Park. Matt Jordan gives a fine study of a husband and dad escaping parental duties for breathing space - he delivers a subtly-expressed and convincing reflection on marriage. Celia Andrews is the woman on the same park bench who listens.
Credits (alpha order): Celia Andrews - Woman. Matt Jordan Man. Writer - Alan Ayckbourn.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Celia Andrews, Valerie Aubine, Terry Biggadike,
Catherine Cayman, Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete, Mark Eaton, Harriet Jeffery, Matt Jordan, Peter Malone, Sarah Palette. Piano - Hazel Millson.
Company Credits: Director - Michael J Darton. Writers (alpha order) - Alan Ayckbourn, Noel Coward, Christopher Durang, Christopher Hampton, Burton Lane, Stephen Metcalfe, Christina Reid, Stephen Sondheim, Jack Waller, Arnold Wesker, and others. Lighting Designer - Phil Hunter. Company - Just Theatre Company. Thanks to: Jermyn Street Theatre - Howard Jameson, Artistic Director Penny Horner.
END
John Park
reviewed Wednesday 5 May 04 / Jermyn Street Theatre.
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
